Self-healing computing could be just what the doctor ordered for small businesses.
Nitix, described as an "autonomic server operating system," comes with a made-in-Canada label. Developed by Net Integration Technologies Inc. of Markham, Ont., the autonomic part of Nitix has computing functions such as self-management, self-configuration, self-optimization and the aforementioned self-healing capabilities -- all part of a Linux-based system specifically designed for small businesses.
"When things do fail or have a hiccup, the autonomic engine [in Nitix] is designed to go and deal with these problems," says Ozzy Papic, chief executive officer of Net Integration Technologies. "It's best described as a large number of self-regulating subsystems that can do logical and smart things in correcting conditions, even those that haven't been encountered before."
Mr. Papic says it's similar to how a central nervous system controls and regulates functions that cause a body to repair itself. Nitix has a set of independent subsystems, but all are managed by a centralized intelligence. Its autonomic engine monitors a variety of computer operating conditions, while adjusting and compensating for any changing situations or faults within the operating system environment, he says.
Related Articles
The unified configuration management system (UniConf) acts as a kind of brain. Like most operating systems, Nitix is preconfigured to function in certain ways. UniConf applies these instructions to every process within the operating system, basically locking down the system so that it can't be changed. You can't corrupt or alter what's been configured because UniConf continually surveys itself, notes the differences and returns things to the predefined configuration.
It's a particularly useful function to withstand malicious system intrusions and attacks designed to change or take over a computing environment. But even the good guys need to be aware of this autonomic brain.
"We had a situation where [one of] our resellers wanted to add certain functionality into the core operating system," Mr. Papic says. "They spent hours making changes and discovered that these were all purged by the autonomic system [when it was rebooted] because these weren't supposed to be there."
But in most cases, the self-healing properties of the operating system are a benefit to the people using it. Nitix was envisioned as "the Linux for [small and medium] business," he says.
"We wanted to make Linux work for the SMBs. We wanted to solve a specific problem of how to make Linux viable as a back-office product for small and medium business. What we developed is an operating system designed to run on servers. It is the back-office infrastructure and you can continue to use your existing Windows and Outlook [on desktops]."
Linux-based Nitix is less complex and easier to install than comparable server operating systems, Mr. Papic says. In terms of lines of code, Nitix is vastly smaller than other Linux and Windows operating systems, weighing in at about 25 megabytes of software code, compared with about four gigabytes of coding in Microsoft's Small Business Server.
It takes a total of 14 steps and about 12 minutes to install the Nitix operating system on a server configured for Internet connectivity and a range of e-mail services, he says. By comparison, a comparably configured installation of some Linux environments can involve more than 300 steps and four hours.
Quick installation is achieved through the Nitix systems manager, which relays configuration instructions throughout the entire operating system. It's a sort of "read once, write many" approach that vastly simplifies installation by reducing the need to repeatedly code instructions into every subsystem. The same management principle also provides the means to automate things such as system maintenance and diagnosis through the creation of automated responses to predetermined conditions -- for example, when alterations are made to the configuration -- woven through an entire Nitix server environment.
"That's the secret sauce," Mr. Papic says.
Nitix users today include dental offices, car dealers, and real estate companies. Net Integration Technologies has more than 80 case studies of Nitix users, and among them is Town + Country BMW, an automobile dealership in Markham, Ont.
The company uses a version of Nitix as its core server operating system, integrating three primary IT systems, including a connection to the parent BMW network, a parts/inventory/services database system, and accounting and other internal operations systems.
Arthur Madjarian, the dealership general manager, admits he took a leap of faith in Nitix four years ago, based on the strong recommendation of a trusted systems integrator.
The dealership was searching for a low-cost, highly reliable computing environment to replace separate systems that supported individual business applications.
"We needed something that was versatile enough to tie everything together," Mr. Madjarian says. "We had so many different systems that needed so many separate resources. . . . We also wanted a system that would be as maintenance free as possible. We need to concentrate on running our dealership and can't be sidetracked by IT. "
Mr. Madjarian says his dealership is on its third version of Nitix, and each upgrade has been simple and seamless. "It's a matter of half an hour and it was up and running," he says.
Nitix might be the cure to what ails many smaller businesses looking for a simpler alternative to traditional business servers and a more secure computing environment. For example, no Nitix system has been "compromised or affected by a worm virus or malicious code," Mr. Papic says.
"I think we have reduced a lot of issues and problems, but it's not a system that never fails. We do, however, get a lot of e-mails from customers who say they've been using the system and it has never rebooted. It just keeps running."
Nitix isn't the perfect operating system, Mr. Papic admits. But for small businesses, it might be pretty close.
Dan McLean is editor-in-chief of publisher ITWorldCanada.com
6
